Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: Tariff revenue projections ‘unchanged’ after SCOTUS ruling

The U.S. is not projecting any changes to the tariff revenue it will take this year as President Trump is reissuing tariffs the Supreme Court struck down under different legal authority, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday.

Mr. Bessent said the Supreme Court’s ruling was narrowly tailored to block tariffs issued under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act and the administration has other tariff authority it can cite to accomplish its goals.

“The president, the administration remains undeterred in reshoring American factories and getting rid of these massive trade imbalances,” Mr. Bessent said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Mr. Trump has announced a 15% global tariff issued under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That authority is valid for 150 days, after which it would have to be renewed by Congress.

Mr. Besset said there may not be a need for Congress to vote on tariffs because the administration is using the “five-month bridge” to conduct investigations needed to impose the tariffs under a longer-lasting authority.

“The revenue for the U.S. Treasury for 2026, the projections, are unchanged,” he said.

The Commerce Department is investigating what tariffs could be issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which authorizes the president to impose duties or quotas on imports deemed a national security threat.

The U.S. Trade Representative is exploring tariffs that can be issued under Section 301 of the Trade Act, which is aimed at counteracting unfair foreign trade practices, primarily directed at China.

“It is very likely that those studies will result in higher 232s, higher 301s, and it will get us back to the same tariff level,” Mr. Bessent said, noting that tariffs issued under those two authorities have withstood more than 4,000 challenges since Mr. Trump’s first term.

Mr. Bessent said the Supreme Court ruling has not affected trade deals the tariffs helped spark.

“We have been in touch with our foreign trading partners, and all of them want to keep the trade deals that have been set,” he said.

The secretary declined to commit to the Treasury issuing refunds to companies that paid tariffs that were issued under the IEPPA authority the Supreme Court struck down.

The court’s ruling did not address the issue of whether the tariff revenue needs to be refunded.

“The Supreme Court remanded it down to a lower court, and we will follow what they say, but that could be weeks or months when we hear them,” Mr. Bessent said.